A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by a group of aircraft or a single aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used.

Flypasts are often tied in with Royal or state events, anniversaries, celebrations - and occasionally funerary or memorial occasions. Sometimes flypasts occur in special situations, to honour someone or to celebrate certain types of aircraft. They have affinities with parades, of which they form the aerial component. Often they occur in purely display contexts at airshows, but it is the flypasts linked with civic, ceremonial and national pride, that imprint themselves on a nation's memory. These spectacular and daring displays of military - and occasionally passenger - aircraft, are described in broadcast and print media as "historic".

Flypasts are regularly featured in public and ceremonial life in the United Kingdom, where they function as a particular kind of aerial salute. They serve to show respect, display aircraft, showcase flying skills and as a form of entertainment to delight the public, for example, during their annual appearance after Trooping the Colour. Flypasts reflect milestones of national life; varying in scope from personal, to community and local, to military, to national. They may honour individuals in private or public life or commemorate happenings at a particular location. They are also used to honour aircraft. On occasions both small and large they may occur over land or sea, sometimes connected with memorial or thanksgiving services.

Flypast locations are usually of national importance. In the UK, these include Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Family on the balcony will join the thousands of spectators in streets and parks below. Other London settings have included the River Thames. 50th and 60th anniversaries of World War II were celebrated by flypasts over Normandy in France. Festivities of Trafalgar 200 were centred over Portsmouth and at sea.

The ceremonial flypast over Buckingham Palace on Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Day, Tuesday 2 June 1953 was nearly cancelled due to bad weather. However, "after a short delay Duxford's Wing Commander Wallace successfully led 144 RAF Meteors and 24 Royal Canadian Air Force Sabres at 1,200 feet South to North across The Mall in squadrons line astern as the newly crowned Queen took the salute from the balcony of Buckingham Palace." [2] This 168-aircraft parade was under the charge of the Earl of Bandon. (On 15 May 1954, the Duxford Wing escorted the Queen on her return in the Royal Yacht, called HMY Britannia, from a six-month world tour, illustrating how much a part of ceremonial flypasts were in Elizabeth's early reign.[3] )

On 15 July 1953 the Queen conducted a Coronation Review of the Royal Air Force at RAF Odiham. This spectacular featured a flypast by about 640 aircraft - among them 440 jet aircraft - again under the command of Air Vice-Marshal the Earl of Bandon.[4]

The years since 2000 have been particularly rich in flypasts reflecting milestones of Royal life.

To greet the Queen Mother as their Commandant-in-Chief during her 100th Birthday Official Celebrations on 19 July 2000, the Red Arrows gave a 10-Hawk flypast over Horse Guards Parade - one plane for each decade of her life.[5]

On Tuesday, 9 April 2002, the Queen Mother's burial at Windsor was marked by a flypast of a World War II Lancaster flanked by two Spitfires.[6]

The finale of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Weekend on 4 June 2002 saw a lavish flypast "14 miles long at a speed of 310mph, passing overhead at a height of 1500ft."[7] The formation, concluded by Concorde with a Red Arrows escort, was watched by the Royal Family on Buckingham Palace balcony and a million well-wishers in the Mall.

Among the celebrations of the Queen's 80th birthday during 2006 was a flypast following the Trooping the Colour. Headed by the Lancaster with 2 Hurricanes and 2 Spitfires (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight), the 49 aircraft in 9 formations included Typhoons, Jaguars, Tristar, VC10, C-17A Globemaster III and E-3 Sentry. The highlight was a "Diamond 9" formation of Tornado GR4s and the appearance of a Canberra escorted by the Red Arrows.

In May 2003, for only the third time in history, the Queen made a presentation of a new Royal Navy Colour. The ceremony at Torbay in Devon included a flypast by 89 helicopters and aircraft from the Fleet Air Arm, featuring the Phantom.

In Finland, during Independence Day parade on 6 December the Finnish Air Force has traditionally performed a flyover of four fighters at the moment when the honour company of the Air force passes the podium where a representative of the war veterans, a representative of the city and the commander of the military province in question receive the parade troops marching past, the Helicopter battalion of Utti Jaeger Regiment has also performed flyovers timed to happen at the same time when the honour company of the Finnish Army provided by the Utti Jaeger Regiment passes the podium.

On 1 April 2008, a flypast by the Red Arrows over Central London marked the 90th Anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force. The milestone was also celebrated that June following Trooping the Colour 2008 with the RAF's longest-ever flypast: a line of aircraft stretching twenty miles in length, from airfields all over the United Kingdom.

On 15 September 1945, after the war ended, about 300 aircraft flew over London in the first Battle of Britain anniversary flypast. "The formation was led by 247 Squadron in their new Vampire fighters, the first time the public had seen the aircraft."[11] This flypast was apparently led by Douglas Bader (RAF hero commemorated and portrayed by Kenneth More in the film Reach For the Sky.)

An attender recalls a victory parade in London on 8 June 1946 featuring two flypasts, one during the day and one at night. Scores of aircraft, of many kinds, took part.

The 50th and 60th anniversaries of World War II were commemorated with large flypasts. On 15 September 1990, 168 aircraft in seven formations celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Further flypasts occurred on 6 June 1994, celebrating the 50th anniversary of D-Day.

Over the weekend of 19–20 August 1995, the 50th anniversary of VJ Day was marked in London, including "a two-minute silence which...was ended by a Lancaster bomber overflying The Mall and dropping about a million poppies over the site." In the evening, there was a further flypast on the Thames.[12]

On 10 July 2005, the 60th anniversary of VE Day was marked by a flypast of vintage aircraft which again dropped one million poppies on crowds in The Mall.[15]

The 60th anniversary in 2003 of the Dambusters raid was marked by a flypast of the last operational Lancaster over the cliffs at Reculver, site of secret tests of inventor Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb. (This flight was part of a larger series of flypasts over key locations by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.[16])

On 16 May 2008, Les Munro, the last surviving Squadron Leader, and Richard Todd, star of the celebrated film The Dambusters, attended the 65th Anniversary service and flypast over Ladybower Reservoir. At 100 feet, as compared to 60 feet of the Dambusters' practice runs, a single Lancaster aircraft passed three times over Derwent Water. A Spitfire, two Tornadoes, and a Dakota transport plane also participated.[17]

The largest flypast in history occurred on the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender which formally ended the war between Japan and the allied powers in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. 400 B-29 bombers and 3000 carrier aircraft participated.[20]

On 7 May 2007, hundreds of workers at Kennedy Space Center watched as US Air Force Thunderbirds performed a series of passes over the main industrial area, where the Space Shuttle is maintained and prepared for launches. The purpose of this demonstration was to photograph the planes at KSC for promotional purposes. Almost six months later, in November 2007, the Kennedy Space Center hosted the inaugural World Space Expo. The opening featured an aerial salute to NASA with the Thunderbirds as the main attraction.[21]

United States, flyovers are common at professional sports and racing events as part of the performance of The Star-Spangled Banner.[22] The flyover had been a strong NASCAR tradition, as every major race features one, usually performed by an air force or air national guard wing based in the area, and in some cases naval and marine air units. Army helicopters have also occasionally performed them. It is also a staple of the national anthem at the Super Bowl and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. A flyover occurs at the beginning of the Men's Final of the US Open Tennis Championships. This is usually performed by the Blue Angels, the official U.S. Navy aerobatics demonstration squadron. A flyby takes places prior to the start of the Indianapolis 500 mile race, the largest single-day sporting event in the world. Held annually on Memorial Day weekend, U.S. military aircraft perform a flyby while "Taps" is played in remembrance of Memorial Day. In some years, multiple aircraft participate, executing the missing man formation.

Some Canberra residents panicked during a flypast in 2003 over Parliament House by two F-111 jets, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Australian High Court. It manifested itself as "two thunderously loud balls of flame screaming overhead at a height of about 300 metres and heading toward the city's landmarks." Press releases had been issued, but the police had not been informed.[26]

In Goa, India during a ceremonial flypast to mark the silver jubilee of the Naval Air Squadron 315 in 2002, the wingtips of two Ilyushin aircraft brushed in mid-air, with the subsequent loss of a dozen lives[clarification needed]. The incident raised questions as to the necessity of flypasts which, "although spectacular and entertaining, can be risky".[27]